News
October 31, 2007
harkin, engel respond to report on cocoa industry's work to eliminate child labor
Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) today made the following statements in response to the findings of their congressionally mandated report on the cocoa industry’s progress in eradicating child labor.
In 2001, after working with the chocolate and cocoa industries, the two Congressional leaders created the “Harkin-Engel Protocol” to develop a framework for the cocoa industry to do away with the worst forms of child and slave labor in the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derived products. When industry leaders did not meet the Protocol’s 2005 deadline, Harkin and Engel commissioned Tulane University to serve as an oversight body to give an impartial assessment of the cocoa industry’s efforts to implement the protocol. Its findings were released today; Tulane’s quarterly report will come out on January, 2008.
“I’m pleased that the Tulane report confirms that the Harkin-Engel protocol has already made a real difference in terms of turning the spotlight on this issue. We have made progress. For example, there are now serious discussions between industry and government leaders on eradicating child labor in the cocoa industry. While this news is promising, it must fuel us as we continue our hard work and push for further results,” said Harkin. “Of major concern are the report’s revelations that the industry-implemented certification process lacks a benchmark system and their skepticism about the independence of the verification component. I look forward to reviewing Tulane’s next report delving into these issues further as well as addressing the industry’s shortfall in excluding non-governmental organizations in their discussions. All parties must work together to comprehensively address this serious issue.”
“The Tulane report makes it clear that business leaders and government officials have already made real progress in bringing the issue of slave labor in the West African cocoa industry to the forefront,” said Engel. “However, the report also indicates that much remains to be done before the July 2008 deadline. The deadline is fast approaching, and I hope that government surveys of the cocoa industry in both Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, as well as a completely independent verification process, are soon in place.”
Yesterday, Harkin, Engel and 20 of their colleagues sent a letter to the Chairman of the Global Issues Group, John Claringbould, urging him and his industry colleagues to heed next year’s deadline in implementing a credible certification and verification program for improved labor practices in Ghana and Ivory Coast.
